Fever kills 12 in western district

A rare fever known as leptospirosis has claimed the lives of 12 people and affected nearly 180 others in the western district of Bungoma, where the illness was first noticed in mid-April, a health ministry official said on Thursday. Local health professionals first thought the affected people, who sought treatment for fever, headache, chills, muscle pains and diarrhoea, were suffering from typhoid or malaria. They only reported the problem to the health ministry on 6 June when patients failed to respond to typhoid and malaria drugs, Dr Charles Nzioka, the head of the Disease Outbreak Management Unit in the ministry told IRIN. He said leptospirosis was caused by bacteria found mostly in the urine of rodents, and that those affected might have drank water contaminated with rat urine. Other symptoms of severe leptospirosis infection included bleeding, especially through the mouth and nose, and subsequent kidney failure. The outbreak was first reported in a secondary school where six pupils had died, Nzioka added. A team of medical experts had been sent to the affected area and was advising people to boil their drinking water and providing them chlorinated water, he said, noting that 86 people had been admitted to various hospitals in the area and about 90 others discharged after treatment.